Abbott holds the line on levies and excise

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says the government has increased the fuel excise and he admits an excise is a tax, but he won't say whether the government has introduced a new tax.

Mr Abbott faced off with a caller to ABC radio in Melbourne on Wednesday who accused him of treating the public like idiots.

The caller, Stella, said she didn't want Mr Abbott to play games with words when it came to new measures in the budget.

"I obviously accept that a levy is something you pay out of your pocket to the government," Mr Abbott told ABC radio.

He said he wasn't going to quibble over calling it a tax. He also said the fuel excise was restoring an old form of tax.

"Excise is a tax, there's no doubt about that," Mr Abbott said.

"We have restored something that is there before.

"We have increased fuel excise by restoring indexation."

Two opinion polls this week showed a sharp drop in voter support for the coalition following last week's federal budget.

Cuts to hospital and education funding sparked marches through major cities on the weekend and a meeting of premiers in Sydney.

Mr Abbott said he had been faithful to what he said before the election.

"My job is not to curry popularity. My job is to do what's right for the country," he said.

Labor and the Australian Greens are poised to block many of the budget measures, with the government left to trade with new cross-benchers after July 1 to pass its Medicare co-payment and pension and welfare changes.

Mr Abbott said his plan B was to keep on with plan A.

"I expect the Senate to respect the work of the government," he said.

Mr Abbott also took a call from Gloria, a pensioner with three chronic medical conditions who works for an adult sex line to make ends meet and believes she'll be $850 worse off as a result of the budget.

He told her he was getting rid of the carbon tax but leaving the compensation in place.

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